Based on recent actions by the FDA, it is becoming quite clear that people no longer have the “right” to choose the foods that they eat, and that farmers cannot grow or produce healthful foods to sell directly to consumers.
The FDA, in conjunction with state and local authorities, are stepping up raids on small farms, food buying clubs and private food co-ops.
All this being said, it is simply a foretaste of things to come, should the senate bill, S.510 be passed (the food safety and modernization Act).
I will refer you to the following article, part 1 in a series of 3 parts, which documents the trials of families in Missouri that were farming according to the state laws, only to have a judge state that “this could not have been what the legislators meant when they wrote this law”:
http://wholefoodusa.wordpress.com/2010/09/09/farming-without-a-license-is-a-criminal-enterprise/
Please, please, please. If you want to be able to choose where you get your food from, and would like to help out the local farmers (you know, the ones that have eggs without Salmonella and also sell meats and greens without E. Coli), call and write your senators and tell them to vote against the Food Safety and Modernization act (Bill S.501).
–Pat
Tags: FDA, food choices, food raids, S-510
The biggest issue I have with most of the recent proposed legislation (any topic, not just food-related) is that total authority is given to someone in an appointed position – not someone that we can vote in and out. it has all the makings of a Fascist regime.
Actually, this bill doesn’t come down hard on small farms. Here’s a summary: http://thehill.com/images/stories/blogs/smallfarms.pdf
It’s directed more at high-volume, high-risk facilities.
Only if the Tester amendment is added will small farmers not be under the same regulations.
Sorry… words like “consideration”, “discretion” and “FDA” in the same sentence really bother me. Like those gov’t goons will demonstrate common sense. NO – this law needs to be very specific in it’s language. If you read the actual bill, and not some summary put out by a gov’t boot licker, it will read that the FDA can do whatever they like if there is a “reason to believe” there is an outbreak or danger to human health. Not EVIDENCE, just a reason to believe.
No way… I’m calling my senators daily to protest this bill.